December 6, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Reverted build date to the featured on both the keystone and in the MN-NBI database.

December 6, 2012: Updated by John Marvig: Added information. When a highway and railroad share a bridge, it is most common practice that the railroad fully owns the bridge. UP track chart makes no note of county owning it.

Sources

Comments

Minneopa Creek Stone Arch Bridge

Posted April 5, 2015, by John Marvig (marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Checked out the rehabilitation the other day. It appears the county and railroad invested money into making this arch able to last for a long time to come. A concrete floor, patch work on the lower walls and some ceiling stabilization have all helped preserve the structure. Because of the recent rehab, one is now able to walk through the arch with little to no effort. Congratulations to Blue Earth County and Union Pacific Railroad for making the right decision to preserve this historic artifact!

Just discovered this today (10/27/13) and the surveyor flags are in place. Such a shame that this is slated for destruction. It really doesn't look like much would be needed to reinforce it and I get the feeling that they will destroy most of the nice little valley just getting down to work on it. It would be wise just to leave it appears there is no danger of collapsing.

The official reason for replacement is "The existing stone arch is deteriorating." Which is dumb, because deterioration does not imply replacement is required. Perhaps it could simply be repaired. The 5 year plan is on the county website. For your convenience I am attaching the two pages that reference the bridge.

Any particular reason they plan on removing it? Seems kinda stupid to me. Its in decent to excellent condition, and it is considered historic. I'll be contacting MNDOT and the Minnesota Historical Society to learn more and try to save it. Do you have a document Nathan?

Blue Earth County plans to demolish this bridge according to their 5 year plan. Not sure if it it just the road portion of the whole works. I assume just the road portion. Replacement structure to be precast concrete culvert. How charming.

Minneopa Creek Stone Arch Bridge

Posted May 6, 2013, by AR

Hey, that shot of the south entrance is worth the crawl! Thanks, Cody.